By Kim Coghill

Washington Editor

CombiMatrix Corp., a majority owned affiliate of Pasadena, Calif.-based Acacia Research Corp., Wednesday filed its proposed initial public offering statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company intends to raise $100 million in the sale of common stock, said Paul Ryan, chairman and CEO of Acacia. The number of shares and cost per share were not available.

Ryan, however, said Acacia owns 58.3 percent of the stock and intends to maintain that majority following the IPO. In August, Acacia's ownership dropped from 61.4 percent to the current level following CombiMatrix's second round of private equity financing, in which the company raised $36 million. In that round, Acacia (NASDAQ:ACRI) invested $17.5 million.

Salomon Smith Barney is acting as lead manager for this offering and J.P. Morgan & Co. is the co-manager. CombiMatrix is selling all shares in the proposed offering.

Pam Tomkinson, spokeswoman for Acacia, said the SEC is reviewing the proposed IPO and she is not sure when the review will conclude.

CombiMatrix, based in Snoqualmie, Wash., will use proceeds from the IPO for general working capital and to launch and market its products, Ryan said.

Founded in 1995, CombiMatrix Corp. is developing technology to rapidly produce customized biological array processors, which are semiconductor-based tools for use in identifying and determining the roles of genes, gene mutation and proteins.

These processors are being designed to facilitate the analysis of raw genomic and proteomic data for use in the discovery and development of pharmaceutical products.

In its first round of private equity financing held in March, CombiMatrix raised $17.5 million, led by Acacia's $10 million investment.

Proceeds in both the first and second rounds were earmarked for commercialization of the microarray chip technology, possible strategic partners and general operations.